Political Strategies in Pre-Columbian Mesoamerica
Total Page：16
File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb
Political Strategies in Pre-Columbian Mesoamerica EDITED BY Sarah Kurnick and Joanne Baron Political Strategies in Pre-Columbian Mesoamerica Political Strategies in Pre-Columbian Mesoamerica EDITED BY Sarah Kurnick and Joanne Baron UNIVERSITY PRESS OF COLORADO Boulder © 2016 by University Press of Colorado Published by University Press of Colorado 5589 Arapahoe Avenue, Suite 206C Boulder, Colorado 80303 All rights reserved Printed in the United States of America The University Press of Colorado is a proud member of Association of American University Presses. The University Press of Colorado is a cooperative publishing enterprise supported, in part, by Adams State University, Colorado State University, Fort Lewis College, Metropolitan State University of Denver, Regis University, University of Colorado, University of Northern Colorado, Utah State University, and Western State Colorado University. ∞ This paper meets the requirements of the ANSI/NISO Z39.48-1992 (Permanence of Paper). ISBN: 978-1-60732-415-7 (cloth) ISBN: 978-1-60732-416-4 (ebook) Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Political strategies in pre-Columbian Mesoamerica / edited by Sarah Kurnick and Joanne Baron. pages cm ISBN 978-1-60732-415-7 (hardback) — ISBN 978-1-60732-416-4 (ebook) 1. Indians of Mexico—Antiquities. 2. Indians of Central America—Antiquities. 3. Indians of Mexico—Politics and government. 4. Indians of Central America—Politics and government. 5. Authority—Political aspects—Mexico—History—To 1500. 6. Authority—Political aspects— Central America—History—To 1500. 7. Social archaeology—Mexico. 8. Social archaeology— Central America. 9. Ethnoarchaeology—Mexico. 10. Ethnoarchaeology—Central America. I. Kurnick, Sarah. II. Baron, Joanne. F1219.3.P7P66 2015 972’.01—dc23 2015010767 26 25 24 23 22 21 20 19 18 17 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 Cover illustrations: detail from the Codex Zouche-Nuttall © the Trustees of the British Museum (foreground ); detail of the Lienzo de Ocotepec, courtesy, Vanderbilt University Publications in Anthropology (background ). In memory of Robert J. Sharer. Contents List of Figures ix List of Tables xiii Acknowledgments xv Chapter 1 Paradoxical Politics: Negotiating the Contradictions of Political Authority Sarah Kurnick 3 Chapter 2 Theories of Power and Legitimacy in Archaeological Contexts: The Emergent Regime of Power at the Formative Maya Community of Ceibal, Guatemala Takeshi Inomata 37 Chapter 3 Negotiating Political Authority and Community in Terminal Formative Coastal Oaxaca Arthur A. Joyce, Sarah B. Barber, Jeffrey Brzezinski, Carlo J. Lucido, and Víctor Salazar Chávez 61 Chapter 4 Conflicting Political Strategies in Late Formative to Early Classic Central Jalisco Christopher S. Beekman 97 Chapter 5 Patron Deities and Politics among the Classic Maya Joanne Baron 121 Chapter 6 Entangled Political Strategies: Rulership, Bureaucracy, and Intermediate Elites at Teotihuacan Tatsuya Murakami 153 Chapter 7 Landscapes, Lordships, and Sovereignty in Mesoamerica Bryce Davenport and Charles Golden 181 Chapter 8 Ruling “Purépecha Chichimeca” in a Tarascan World Helen Perlstein Pollard 217 Chapter 9 Reflections on the Archaeopolitical: Pursuing the Universal within a Unity of Opposites Simon Martin 241 List of Contributors 279 Index 283 viii contents Figures 1.1. Map of Mesoamerica showing locations of case studies from this volume by chapter number: (2) Ceibal, Guatemala; (3) coastal Oaxaca; (4) central Jalisco; (5) La Corona, Guatemala; (6) Teotihuacan; (7) Maya area and Mixteca Alta; (8) central Michoacán 6 2.1. Map showing the location of Ceibal 48 2.2. Map of Ceibal, 1 meter contours 49 2.3. Map of La Libertad, Chiapas, as an example of the Middle Formative Chiapas pattern 50 2.4. A carved shell pendant representing a decapitated head, from Ceibal Cache 108 (ca. 800 bce) 51 3.1. Map of the lower Río Verde, showing archaeological sites mentioned in the text 63 3.2. Terminal Formative Period ritual offerings in public buildings and at Cerro de la Virgen 67 3.3. Plan of the acropolis at Río Viejo 69 3.4. Adobe retaining wall on the western end of the acropolis with bricks made from three different clay sources 71 3.5. Offering in Structure 1 from Cerro de la Virgen with stone rain deity mask 73 3.6. Photo of a section of the earth oven on the acropolis at Río Viejo 76 3.7. Late Terminal Formative iconographic gray wares 79 4.1. Map of western highland Mexico, indicating the groups discussed in chapter 4 98 4.2. Examples of each of the forms of built space proposed, as associated with specific social institutions and strategies 101 4.3. Ceramic model depicting a burial procession, with pallbearers carrying the dead 103 4.4. A design within a votive bowl used in Náyari temples and the explicit symbolism embodied in the design 108 5.1. Map of the Maya area showing the location of La Corona 123 5.2. Map of the Coronitas group 125 5.3. The family tree of La Corona’s main royal lineage and other La Corona rulers 139 5.4. South profile of Structure 13R-2 showing principal phases of construction 141 6.1. Location of architectural complexes mentioned in the text 155 6.2. Diachronic changes in total labor costs for the central precinct 156 6.3. Feathered Serpent Pyramid at the Ciudadela 157 6.4. Diachronic changes in labor costs for major pyramids and administrative/residential structures within the central precinct 159 6.5. Human representations during the Xolalpan-Metepec phases 160 6.6. Layout of some apartment compounds 161 6.7. Plan of the Street of the Dead Complex 163 7.1. Map of the Maya area 184 7.2. Detail map of Oaxaca showing selected sites in the Mixteca Alta 185 x figures 7.3. Map of the region between Piedras Negras, Guatemala, and Yaxchilan, Mexico, showing border sites and fortifications along the northern border of the Yaxchilan kingdom 195 7.4. Detail from page 22 of the Codex Zouche- Nuttall showing the toponyms of subsidiary and border settlements inside of the glyph for the ñuu 199 7.5. Detail of the Lienzo de Ocotepec, an early Colonial document showing the boundaries between Santo Tomas Ocotepec and Santa Maria Cuquila 200 8.1. Extent of the Tarascan empire and major lake basins referred to in text 219 8.2. Major Late Postclassic urban sites in the Lake Pátzcuaro Basin 225 8.3. Local elite identity in burial 9 at Urichu. Spouted polychrome vessel and several bronze and shell earrings 227 8.4. Ritual center of Ihuatzio 228 figures xi Tables 8.1. Concepts of governance in the Tarascan state 221 8.2. Major political positions of the Tarascan state 222 8.3. Cultural sequence of central Michoacán 222 Acknowledgments This volume originated in a session we organized at the 77th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology, held in Memphis, Tennessee, in 2012. Our goal was to bring together archaeologists work- ing throughout Mesoamerica to discuss and debate the processes associated with the creation, perpetuation, and negation of politically authoritative relationships. We would like to thank the authors for their thought- ful chapters, as well as those who presented a paper at the SAAs but were unable to contribute to the vol- ume: David Anderson, Susan Evans, Federico Paredes, Nancy Peniche, Adam Smith, Timothy Sullivan, and Lorraine Williams-Beck. It has been a pleasure to work with each of these scholars. The University Press of Colorado has supported this volume from the outset, and we are gratified to have worked with Acquisitions Editor Jessica d’Arbonne, whose assistance and advice have proven invaluable, and with Director Darrin Pratt. We are also grateful to two anonymous reviewers for their constructive criticisms on the first draft of the manuscript and their insightful suggestions for improvement. This volume is better because of their comments. Finally, we have benefited from the support of col- leagues, friends, and family. To them, we say thank you. Political Strategies in Pre-Columbian Mesoamerica 1 This volume examines the operation of political Paradoxical Politics authority in pre-Columbian Mesoamerica. It considers, Negotiating the Contradictions in other words, the creation, reproduction, and nega- of Political Authority tion of politically authoritative relationships in several of the world’s early complex societies. How did rul- ers acquire and maintain, or fail to maintain, political Sarah Kurnick authority? And why did subjects choose to acknowl- edge or reject that authority? A primary goal of this volume is to advance the negotiation of contradictions as a fruitful avenue to explore the exercise of politi- cal authority in pre-Columbian Mesoamerica and in other parts of the world both past and present. In brief, rulers reinforce social inequality and bolster their own unique position at the top of the sociopolitical hier- archy yet simultaneously emphasize social similari- ties and the commonalities shared by all. Rulers also emphasize their differences from, and their similari- ties to, not only their followers, but also rulers of other contemporary communities and past leaders of their own communities. Followers, in turn, may choose to participate in politically authoritative relationships because of the appeal of an individual who is at the same time different and familiar, exceptional and relat- able. They may recognize, in other words, the authority of an individual who is utterly distinct yet at the same time like them, like other contemporary rulers, and like past leaders. In this introductory chapter, I will define politi- cal strategies and pre-Columbian Mesoamerica and DOI: 10.5876/9781607324164.c001 3 consider why their intersection is an important and useful locus of study. I will then review previously proposed explanations and advance an analyti- cal framework for understanding how rulers rule and why followers often choose to follow—generally, and in pre-Columbian Mesoamerica specifi- cally.